The Heart, step by step
Blood makes two circuits: a short one to the lungs, a long one to the body. Both pass through the heart.
- Body → right atriumOxygen-poor blood arrives via the vena cava.
- Right atrium → right ventricleThrough the tricuspid valve.
- Right ventricle → lungsOut through the pulmonary artery — the only artery carrying oxygen-poor blood.
- Lungs → left atriumOxygen-rich now, back via the pulmonary veins.
- Left atrium → left ventricleThrough the mitral valve.
- Left ventricle → bodyOut through the aorta. This chamber has the thickest wall, because it pushes the furthest.
The numbers
- Resting rate: 60–100 beats per minute for most adults
- About 5 litres pumped per minute at rest
- Roughly 100,000 beats a day
Arteries carry blood away from the heart, veins carry it back — that is the definition, not the oxygen.
Questions about the The Heart poster
- What’s on the The Heart poster?
- 6 numbered steps, with a full worked run-through. Blood makes two circuits: a short one to the lungs, a long one to the body. Both pass through the heart. Body → right atrium — Oxygen-poor blood arrives via the vena cava.; Right atrium → right ventricle — Through the tricuspid valve.; Right ventricle → lungs — Out through the pulmonary artery — the only artery carrying…; Lungs → left atrium — Oxygen-rich now, back via the pulmonary veins.; Left atrium → left ventricle — Through the mitral valve.; Left ventricle → body — Out through the aorta. This chamber has the thickest wall, be…. Arteries carry blood away from the heart, veins carry it back — that is the definition, not the oxygen.
- Who is the The Heart poster for?
- The Heart belongs to the Body & health section rather than to a school year, because health is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning anatomy can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the The Heart poster?
- Trace the loop with a finger. The order is the whole thing, and it never varies. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so The Heart belongs on the wall where that health work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with The Heart?
- Blood, Blood Types and The Body Systems sit alongside The Heart in the Body & health section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.BloodBlood TypesThe Body Systems
- Is the The Heart poster free to download and print?
- Yes. The Heart downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Body & health section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the The Heart poster print at?
- The Heart is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of The Heart loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside The Heart on the same wall.
Browse every Body & health poster, or start from the full catalogue.